Maxis is offering a time limited sale on selected smart phones which offers lower monthly commitment than before. Usually Maxis bundle its devices with a minimum bolt on of 500MB data plan of RM58/month and this time, they offer more options with a much lower RM38/month which gives you 250MB of Data. For BlackBerry, the plan on offer is the BIS Entry of 250MB at RM40/month. This offer is valid from now until 14th August 2011.

While RM38 a month is cheaper, it costs more per GB. Therefore those who will be highly likely to use more than 250MB/month within the 12 months contract period might want to look at higher data plans instead.

Twitter has become a legitimate avenue for customers to be heard both by other consumers as well as brands that are vying for their affection. Also, increasingly, Twitter has become an additional channel for brands to effectively track and address customer issues.

The latest to join the bandwagon and use Twitter as a customer service channel is TM. The brand today launched @TMConnects, a specific channel to address TM-service related support and queries. In terms of social media, TM was slow off the starting blocks being one of the last amongst the telecommunications providers to come on the social media space, but as they say, better late than never.

Looks like things are indeed turning around at TM and we applaud the telecommunications juggernaut’s brave move to bring more depth in its engagement with its customers online. The decision to come on Twitter is by no means easy for Malaysia’s biggest telecommunications company. Pleasing millions of customers and getting the right message across with just 140 characters will be a challenge for the new customer support channel but it is off on the right foot by making clear some rules of engagement to establish the right framework in conversations with fellow Twitter followers.

At the end of the day, the proof is in eating the pudding. The @TMConnects now needs to show how timely. proactive and social it is in addressing customer issues. Good luck guys.

Follow @TMConnects here. So what do you think of TM’s move to have customer support on Twitter?

On a side note. Of late we’re been experiencing sporadic network performance with our UniFi account. A quick check on Twitter reveals that we’re not alone. Over the weekend, there was a spike (as far as we can observe) in the number of complaints and negative mentions about the performance of Streamyx and UniFi especially at night. We hope the TM techs are resolving the matter.